Memorable Starts - Bubba Wallace's Nascar Cup Series Debut

Hello everyone! One of your 3 proud leaders of Nascar Amino, Tanor Campos, here and welcome to another installment of Memorable Starts on Nascar Amino! Today's installment of Memorable Starts will revisit the Nascar Cup Series debut of Bubba Wallace, who was called upon as a substitute driver for the famous 43 car that ultimately set the stage for his NCS career. Anyways, without further ado, let's get started with today's installment of Memorable Starts involving Bubba Wallace's Nascar Cup Series debut and if you wish to keep up with any of my latest blogs, then please consider ing my public blogging chatroom to stay up-to-date with all of my content on NA!

Bubba Wallace's Performance In His 1st Race

Bubba Wallace's future in Nascar was facing major uncertainty heading into the race weekend at Pocono Raceway as his ride with Roush Fenway Racing was going to suspend operations due to lack of funding despite sitting 4th in points during the 2017 season. Luckily for Bubba Wallace, he was called upon by Richard Petty Motorsports to drive the famous 43 car while Aric Almirola was still recovering from compression fracture sustained at Kansas that meant he was going to do double duty at Pocono Raceway. The 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford showed some promise during the two practice sessions at Pocono Raceway as he ranked 19th place in First Practice and 27th place in Final Practice before he claimed 16th place starting spot while advancing into Round 2. Prior to his debut in Nascar Cup Series, Bubba Wallace would compete in his final Nascar Xfinity Series start with Roush Fenway Racing as he started the race in 13th place and came away with 11th place finish.

Bubba Wallace took the green flag for the Axalta Presents The Pocono 400 and immediately tumbled down the running order after starting the race in 16th place as the 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford fell all the way down to 20th place until first cycle of pitstops. The 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford fell even further down the order as Bubba Wallace was penalized for speeding on pitroad that unfortunately dropped him down to 37th place and one lap down to the leader. Bubba Wallace was able to climb his way back up the running order during the final moments of stage 1 as the 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford moved up to 31st place while staying one lap down when the stage yellow came out on lap 50 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Stage 2 got underway at Pocono Raceway, but unfortunately, Bubba Wallace fell down to 33rd place and remained one lap down since he didn't take the wave around because his team decided to pit instead.

The 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford was able to jump up into 30th place during the majority of stage 2 due to few drivers experiencing some sort of issue while remaining one lap down until crew chief Drew Blickensderfer called Bubba Wallace down pitroad. Bubba Wallace fell another lap down to the race leader after making his scheduled green flag pitstop with 16 laps to go in stage two, but despite falling two laps down, Bubba Wallace managed to take the green and white checkered flag in 27th place at Pocono Raceway. The final stage at Pocono Raceway would get underway with Bubba Wallace running in 29th place now just sitting 1 lap down to the race leader and began the fight to get back onto the lead lap by battling Matt DiBenedetto who currently held that spot. Bubba Wallace ed Landon Cassill for 28th place as the 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford continued to hunt down Matt DiBenedetto for the lucky dog spot, which Bubba ultimately achieved with 46 laps to go.

Bubba Wallace was able to pull away from Matt DiBenedetto as the 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford was now running in 27th place and currently had the opportunity to get back onto the lead lap when the caution came out during the closing moments in PA. Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer called Bubba Wallace down pitroad for his final scheduled green flag pitstop at Pocono with 34 laps to go that ultimately kept him in 27th place but unfortunately lost the lucky dog opportunity due to the race leader lapping more cars. The yellow flag came out with 19 laps to go at Pocono Raceway after Kasey Kahne crashed hard in turn 1 that unfortunately happened when Bubba Wallace no longer had the chance to get back onto the lead lap in PA. Bubba Wallace restarted in 25th place while remaining one lap down to the race leader during the final 13 laps of the race, but unfortunately, the 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford fell down to 26th place when the checkered flag was waved after David Ragan managed the former Roush Racing driver in Xfinity Series.

My Thoughts On Bubba Wallace's Performance

Bubba Wallace wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he did a solid job of recovering from his early troubles in the race and came away with the best result possible for himself and the entire 43 team. He was very green to Nascar Cup Series racing, and it showed by his struggles with adapting to different things compared to the Nascar Xfinity Series, but he kept his cool during the hard times and managed to make a good impression on Richard Petty on this day. This opportunity helped Bubba Wallace make an easy transition into the Nascar Cup Series, where he currently resigns to this very day, and without this golden opportunity from Richard Petty, there would be no telling what could've happened to his Nascar career.

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